One-piece cap for snap-fasteners.



E. D. SIMONS. ONE-PIECE CAP FOR SNAP FASTENERS.

APPLICATION FILED 0OT.11, 1911.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST D. SIMONS, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO SCOVILL MANU- FACTURING COMPANY, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CON- NECTICU'I.

ONE-PIECE CAP FOR SNAP-FASTENERS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST D. Sn rons, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have inventeda certain new and useful Improvement in One-Piece Caps for Snap-Fasteners, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to that class of snap fastener caps or sockets which are made of a single piece of metal, and designed to be used with complemental rigid heads or studs. Various forms of such caps or sockets have been produced and used, with more or less satisfactory results, but in all of them there has been more or less trouble in effecting a secure and at the same time resilientunion with the article on which they are used.

The object of the present invention is to provide a cap or socket of the single or onepiece type, in which the integral affixing medium insures a substantially circular socket mouth, and the permanence of the set without impairing the resilience.

The invention consists of a one-piece cap or socket having its setting or affixing medium made as integral arms bent into such relation as to form a tubular extension and more or less separated from one another, and having their ends multi-pointed, so that the tubular part in conjunction wit-h the outer member will form a chamber to receive the head of the stud; those portions of the arms next to the outer member abutting against the outer member and thereby prevented from wholly collapsing or breaking down in the act of setting or applying the cap to an article; the tubular portion forming a substantially circular resilient mouth for the cap or socket to grip the neck of the stud; the multi-pointed ends of the arms in the act of setting rolling over and into the article without unsightly and annoying splitting, and thereby retaining the substantially circular outline of the mouth, and engaging the article so firmly and securely as to practically prevent the accidental detaching of the cap from an article after once being aifixed thereto, all as I will proceed now more particularly to describe and finally claim.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, in the several figures of Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 11, 1911.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

Serial No. 654,124.

which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a plan view of the blank from which the cap may be conveniently drawn by suitable tools. Figs. 2, 3 and a are crosssections illustrating the first, second and third operations, respectively, on the blank of Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the finished article. Fig. 6 is an inner plan View, Fig. 7 is a cross-section, and Fig. 8 is an outer plan view of the set device. Fig. 9 is a cross-section of a modification.

The blank 1 may be of any suitable construction, but preferably such as shown in Fig. 1, same being a four-sided piece of sheet-metal, the sides of which may be curved as shown, straight, or nearly straight, and the angles extended to form arms 2. These arms at their extreme outer ends are multi-pointed, as at 3. The blank thus produced is next subjected to the action of suitable dies or tools, whereby the four corner arms together with a portion of the adjacent sides are turned up parallel, substantially as indicated in Fig. 2; and then by means of another operation the tubular portion 4: next to the base or head 5 is bent inwardly, and the tubular portion 6 formed by the arms is contracted in diameter, as repre sented in Fig. 3; and then by a further operation the tubular portion is still more contracted and the portion of the metal 4, adjacent to the base 5 is caused to converge, all as shown in Fig. 4. By a further operation the arms are brought more or less closely together at their bases, the major portions of the arms being substantially parallel and more or less separated; but the portions of the arms next to the base 5 are left to form a tube or chamber 7 of greater diameter than the diameter of the tube formed by the arms, and the metal of the blank immediately adjacent to the base 5 and at the roots of the arms is closed down substantially against the inside of the base so that the tubular portion is brought wholly within the diameter of the base, and the bases or roots of the arms are supported against the inside of the base, to the end that in the act of setting the cap or socket, the pressure necessary to effect the clenching of the arms is taken by the base 5 and thus any deformative collapse of the arms is prevented, all as shown in Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8. In the finished article, the base 5 becomes the head or externally exposed finish member of the cap or socket.

There are a number of important advantages gained by the construction herein set forth, some of which have been mentioned or indicated already. The multi-pointing or notching of the ends of the arms causes these ends to roll over into the article in the act of setting, instead of spreading out flat, and thereby the mouth of the socket is preserved in circular form, and the cap may be thus set Without puckering the material of the article. hen the arms are not thus pointed or notched, the cap, viewed from its closed side or base, does not set down on the article as snugly as one having the points or notches, even under like pressure.

Variations in detail and finish, especially of the base or top, are deemed to be within the scope of the invention; it being understood that the term one-piece as herein 7 used, refers to the fact that the cap and its attaching arms are thus formed, regardless of external finish. It will .be observed, further, that the multi-pointing or notching of the ends of the arms takes away the tendency of the arms to split in setting, owing to their assuming a circular form, and further the multi-pointing of the arms gives to them a tooth-like effect, and the teeth or points roll or curl over and enter more or less into the material of the article to which the cap is applied, so as to prevent the cap or socket from rotating on the article, and also to insure the retention of the caps engagement with the article under strains of use thus makin the settin of the ea or a b a: P

socket on an article very secure.

As shown in Fig. 9, the ends of the arms may be drawn quite closely together, in fact into contact, in order to facilitate the insertion of the cap in a hole in the'article on which it is to be used.

What I claim is l. The herein described one-piece cap or socket for snap fasteners, having a stud-receiving and inclosing chamber, and a tubular attaching portion, said chamber and attaching portion formed of arms extending down from the edge of the head or body of the cap in substantially parallel separated relation, said arms transversely bent on an arc of a circle to form collectively a resilient tube, and the ends of the arms being multipointed.

2. A one-piece cap or socket for snap fasteners, having a head, and attaching arms drawn down from the head in substantially parallel separated relation one to the other and transversely curved to form in conjunction with the head a chamber next to the head to receive and inclose a complemental stud and further extended and transversely curved to form a resilient tubular attaching member beyond the first mentioned chamber, the ends of the arms being multi-pointed thereby to preserve the circular character of the attaching member, to prevent the splitting of the arms in the act of setting or attaching the cap or socket, and to roll over and enter into the article upon which the cap or socket is set or attached.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 10th day of October, A. D. 1911.

ERNEST D. SIMONS.

Witnesses:

E. A. HYDE, PERCY l/VARNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the, Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G. 

